Remember
Part II

    Tifa released me for a moment and stood.  She helped me to my feet and 
her arms were around me again.  She held me like a frightened child clings to 
his mother.  Together we mounted the pile of rubble.  We balanced each other. 
 I stopped and turned to catch one last glance of the garden.
    "It's gone." I said softly.  The shining garden with the proud, solitary, 
unnatural rose had left me.  Something like that might have bothered anyone 
else.  They might begin to think that they had lost their mind.  I was not 
frightened by the thought of losing my mind.  I had lost so many other 
important things in the past.
    "What's gone?" Tifa asked.  She followed the direction of my eyes to the 
spot where she had found me on my knees with a dagger pointed at my chest.  
She looked at me, realizing that she would not receive an answer and merely 
squeezed me tighter.  I was grateful.  Despite the terrible midday sun, my 
body had become icy cold.  Her flesh pressed tight against mine warmed me.
    Together, we left Midgar in perfect silence.  Neither of us could find 
any words to describe the feelings that attacked us.  If we had said anything 
during that time, it would have meant nothing.  Words did not exist at the 
time.  Life was all that remained at the time.  Fragile life that could be 
crushed like the tiniest of insects.
    We came to the top of an enormous hill and we surveyed the land around 
us.  It reminded me of the days at the beginning of our journey when we were 
leaving Midgar.  The rolling countryside spoke to me of travelers searching 
for a man in a black cape.  The ground beneath me told me a tale of foolish 
children who thought they could save the world.  Back then, I never stopped 
to think that saving the world did not mean eternal joy, happiness, and love. 
 No, saving the world meant allowing evil to continue.
    Those fields showed me another vision too.  Huge and metallic, the 
airship Highwind lay before Tifa and I.  It was perfect and glowing like it 
did when I first saw it.  The injuries it received during the adventure had 
been healed.
    "Cid had it repaired. It's perfect again." Tifa said without enthusiasm.  
She raised her hands to her face and wiped the wetness away from under her 
bloodshot eyes and her heavenly tear stained cheeks.  I wondered for a 
moment, what would make an angel cry?  I had little time to think because, 
racing toward us, as we approached the Highwind, was a familiar face.  He was 
a rugged, tough, poorly shaven, spear-wielding pilot known as Cid Highwind.  
He was happy to see me.
    "CLOUD!" He yelled as he wrapped his arms around me and consequently, the 
stubborn Tifa also.  I had never seen Cid give someone a hug.  He had always 
been so…rough.  "Where the hell have you been?  It's been ages since I last 
saw you!  I would be sitting around sometimes and I would say to myself, 
"Man, things are boring today.  Where's that punk with the spiky hair? Ha!  
OH!  You have to take a look at the Highwind!  I've gotten everything im-"
    "Cid, please." Tifa continued walking and I was with her.  Cid held his 
hands up.
    "Whaaat?" He asked.
    "It's been a rough day, Cid."  
    
    Soon, all three of us were inside of the Highwind again.  The Highwind 
was another memory.  The place we stood that day had the same smell of well 
oiled machinery and the same power throbbing beneath our feet as the ship 
that carried us around the world to defeat Sephiroth.  Cid showed me my 
quarters and then took Tifa and I to the kitchen.  Tifa released me long 
enough for us to have a meal.  I did not eat much.
    Tifa would not sleep by herself either.  She came with me to my rooms and 
lay down with me on the bed.  She held me close to her and I stared into her 
brown eyes until they closed in sleep.  I laughed in my head.  It seemed so 
easy when you watched someone else do it.  I pried myself from her arms and 
wandered around the ship for hours.  When I returned to my room and flicked 
on the lights I found Tifa sitting up on the bed, clutching a pillow against 
her chest, and crying her heart out.  I sat down beside her and, for a 
moment, neither of us spoke.  She just cried and I thought of how calming the 
hum of the engines was.  
    "Why?" Tifa asked suddenly.
    "Huh?"  I asked, awakening from my thoughts about the ship's engine.
    "Why would you want to do such a thing?"  I could hardly understand her, 
as she tried to talk around her sobbing.  "I think I know, but I need you to 
say it Cloud!  Please!"
    "I don't understand."
    "Tell me why you want to have a knife in your chest!  Tell me why you 
want to die so that I can help you!  I can't help you if I don't know what's 
wrong!  Tell me!"
    "I can't Tifa."
    "Please, Cloud".  She put a hand on my arm and reached down into my soul 
with her dark eyes.  I began to speak, quietly and quickly.
    "I wanted to kill myself because for the past five years I have wandered 
this world in search of whatever my soul was missing.  All I have seen in 
five years of traveling is sadness and death.  We didn't save the world.  We 
only gave the old evil, hatred, more time to exist.  Tifa, I miss having 
friends.  I miss life.  I miss Aeris.  But most of all, I miss love."  Her 
sobbing stopped but her tears flowed silently.  She put her pillow aside and 
wrapped her arms around me.
    "Oh Cloud…I love you." 


Thanks for reading Part II of my Final Fantasy fan fic, Remember.  I hope you 
enjoyed it.  My name is Chris and if you'd like to give me some comments or 
suggestions I'd love to hear from you.  My e-mail address is 
redwaves_2000@hotmail.com